Sweater Pants

If only Bill Cosby were alive to see this. He is?!

Posted by Paper,doll

About

A revolution in sweaters. And in pants.

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You Will Need (2 things)

  • Sewing Machine
  • 20 in Elastic

Steps (8 steps, 120 minutes)

  1. 1

    Start with the biggest, Cosby-est sweater you can find at the thrift store.
    Avoid -
    Sweaters that look good as is - leave them for someone who needs it.
    Knit sweaters with lots of holes - I learned through trial and error that nothing will stop sweaters like these from deteriorating in the wash.
    Itchy sweaters
    Totally Go For -
    Horribly ugly sweaters, so bad they're good
    Sweaters that have sleeves as long as your leg

  2. 2

    Put the sweater on upside down and inside out, your legs in the sleeves. Belt or otherwise secure the bottom of the sweater at your ribs.

  3. 3

    In this totally awkward position, baste the sleeves of the sweater so that they are as tight/loose as you desire. Baste shut the neck hole. If you can, chalk along where you basted to make it more obvious when you go to sew.

  4. 4

    Cut off the bottom of the sweater, leaving enough room to make a waistband later.

  5. 5

    Take your pants to the machine and follow the line you made basting. If you feel like you are sewing blind (as I felt) lean towards sewing too big as its a serious pain to stitch pick in this situation. Try the pants back on and make adjustments as needed, pinching and basting and sewing until you have a reasonable fit.

  6. 6

    The crotch probably looks weird, I know mine did. You're going to put a dart in to make the crotch area look reasonable. I put my dart in the front because it made the pattern pull up into a point, and I liked that. Also a dart in the back seemed way more likely to split.
    To make the dart I just tried on the pants, pulled them into shape and basted.

  7. 7

    Create the waistband by folding the top of the pants down the width of the elastic and sewing, leaving a gap at the end. Cut a piece of elastic to size and thread through the casing, sew the ends together and close the hole. Ta da!

  8. 8

    They are surprisingly comfortable and pants-looking. I would not bank on getting a whole lot of compliments, especially when matching sweater pants with giant sweater to make a sweaterbeast.